VATICAN CITY, April 8: Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday lamented the “continued slaughter” in Iraq and the misery caused by war and disasters as billions of Christians worldwide marked Easter, their holiest holiday.
“How many wounds, how much suffering there is in the world,” the head of the Roman Catholic Church said in his traditional Easter address, evoking the scourges of hunger, incurable diseases, terrorism and kidnapping.
“Nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees,” he said, making a rare allusion to the country where thousands have died in the last year despite a sweeping operation to curb daily killings.The pope also alluded to the plight of victims of last week's tsunami in the Solomon Islands and expressed “apprehension” at conditions in several regions of Africa, notably in Sudan's Darfur, Somalia and Zimbabwe, which has been torn by political and economic unrest.
Solomon Islanders prayed for victims of the tsunami while millions attended Easter Mass in the Philippines, which has Asia's largest Roman Catholic community.
Residents in predominantly Catholic East Timor prayed for peace on Monday, when they will vote for a new president to lead the tiny island state -- their first such election since independence five years ago.
“With Easter, we have to refuse violence. I ask all the candidates in the name of society to accept the result of the election,” outgoing President Xanana Gusmao said in a radio appeal.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the leader of the world's Anglicans, meanwhile urged his flock to embrace forgiveness and reconciliation, saying they could help resolve conflicts worldwide.
“Going forward requires us all to learn a measure of openness to discover things about ourselves we did not know, seeing ourselves through the eyes of another,” he said.
One of the main celebrations worldwide was held in Jerusalem where thousands from five Christian faiths converged on the Holy Sepulchre Church.—AFP
VATICAN CITY, April 8: Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday lamented the “continued slaughter” in Iraq and the misery caused by war and disasters as billions of Christians worldwide marked Easter, their holiest holiday.
